Strauss dropped

England opener Andrew Strauss has been left out of the English Test series of Sri Lanka after a poor year with the bat.

Indifferent form against Australia, West Indies and India, averaging just 27 has seen Strauss left out of the side not long after receiving a central contract from the ECB.

“Andrew hasn’t performed to the level he can do in terms of play. He’s extremely disappointed, understandably, and it would be strange if he wasn’t,” England’s Chairman of selectors David Graveney explained.

“But he’s a fighter and we believe he will come back into the frame very quickly. The selection of the seven batsmen gives us the very best opportunity to counter the obvious threats that Sri Lanka will present.”

Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara were both called up after becoming fixtures in the one-day side but contrary to speculation, Mark Ramprakash was not handed a fairytale recall to the national side.

England take on Sri Lanka on December 1st at Kandy for the first of the three match Test series.

England Test squad: Michael Vaughan (cpt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Matthew Hoggard, Phil Mustard (wk), Monty Panesar, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann